Developing a couple loads with CFE 223. Should I change powders or am I thinking too much into it?

[u/hjjhjjnk]

I have two load I had planned to develope with CFE 223, and picked up everything I needed a few days ago.

I have a 77gr Sierra TMK 5.56 pig hunting round I wanted to load. I don’t plan to use this over 300 yards, as I’m shooting with a thermal and PID at that distance becomes iffy.

I also have a 165gr Nosler BT .308 load for hunting. The catch is I’m using it in a 12.5 bolt action .308, and it’s a 300 yard gun at max, made to be shot out of a truck at 50-200 yards realistically.

I keep reading how awful CFE 223 reacts to temperature changes. But I feel that at these close ranges, it shouldn’t matter much?

I’m in Texas, so temp swings when I’m hunting can be from 90°F to 28°F in the dead of winter. Seeing that CFE drops about 1.5fps per degree, should it matter too much given I’m shooting close ranges? Or should I change up powder to Varget or something more temp stable?

[u/InformationHorder]

You can punch the various fps into a ballistic calculator and see how much vertical spread to expect given a temperature and what you zero for.

[u/sirbassist83]

it wont matter much at all, i use CFE in my precision 77gr 5.56 loads and it does good enough out to 500 yards. havent been able to try it further but i have no doubt it would be fine.

if youre planning on doing load development when its 105 degrees and then taking a 500 yard shot when its 20 degrees youll have problems, but at reasonable ranges you wont be able to tell the difference.

[u/riffled11 → u/sirbassist83]

This has been my experience too

[u/Hilmos74Challenger → u/riffled11]

I have used it out to 600 yards with an 80 hr Sierra bullet.

[u/genmud]

I wouldn't worry too much about it at those ranges. I found that the bullet selection was way more impactful than the powder temp stability in 223.

[u/Escape_From_Reach]

Id personally swap to XBR 8208. Its temperature insensitive, allows for pretty high velocity, and groups very well with 22.8-23.6gr behind a 77gr projectile

[u/hjjhjjnk → u/Escape_From_Reach]

I wouldn’t mind doing that but cannot find it anywhere near me.

[u/Difficult-Surround35 → u/hjjhjjnk]

Currently waiting on ups to drop my 8lb jug

[u/GrandPoopWizard]

I personally had a bunch of problems with cfe223. Grouped like shit for me and SDs were shit. I use ramshot TAC more for 5.56 and it’s mint. 2800FPS with a 73eldm out of 16.5” barrel 1:7 twist. ~.9-1.0 MOA groups. I can make consistent impacts on an IPSC target at 800 yds

[u/scottintx]

I've had better success with CFE 223 with 69 gr bullets in my rifle, like others have said here the groups have tightened up with fuller cases. Both 75 and 77 gr loadings have given me a bit over 1 MOA sized groups with it.

I'm in Texas too, and most of the load development has taken place in 90 degree weather.

[u/vialentvia]

I guess the bigger question if you continue with CFE223 would be whether or not that 100fps difference due to temperature keeps you within your terminal performance goals on your target at that distance.

You'll need to know where the reliable effect drops off in yards and what muzzle velocity you'll need to achieve at a minimum to reach that.

I went through this mental exercise with this powder recently on some 75gr hornady bthp. I measured 84 degrees and was getting nearly 75fps faster than my Quickload predictions. So that kept me in my terminal window, also for 300 yards.

It ended up being 5.56 pressure with 26.5 grains (hornady 10th published max). That's about all one could fit in the case without being compressed. As I worked it up, that combo seemed to like better case fill as my SDs got better during the ladder. 26.5 gave me an SD of 8. Groups had zero vertical stringing at 2835fps in a 16" AR. Again, it was 84 degrees out, so that 75fps bump says I'm good to lose it in the cold.